Alibaba, China’s online shopping giant, has filed to go public in New York in what is expected to be one of the largest market debuts ever seen.

The 15-year-old retail business is thought to be worth between $115bn and $245bn – making Alibaba one of the 50 largest companies in the world, even by conservative estimates. The higher end of that range places it in the top 15 companies, and puts it just $7bn away from overtaking Wal-mart as the world’s biggest retailer.

Alibaba is taking a relatively cautious approach to its listing. It said in its official filings that it is seeking to raise $1bn at its initial public offering – much less than Facebook or Twitter sought on their respective market debuts. Some of that restraint comes amid concerns that investors have fallen out of love with technology stocks, and may be wary of a major online retailer.

However, that figure is expected to change once banks start testing investor appetite, with some analysts predicting that it will rocket as high as $20bn.

Alibaba’s pre-IPO S1 document laid bare the breadth of the business, which operates a string of online marketplaces, including Taobao, an equivalent to eBay, the Amazon-style Tmall, and Juhuasuan, China's version of Groupon. Last year, 8m merchants used the three websites to sell $248bn-worth of goods to 231m buyers.

But although the size of Alibaba is impressive, it is its rapid growth trajectory that is most likely to pique investor interest. The business, which was founded by former school teacher Jack Ma in his flat in Hangzhou, doubled its profits to $1.35bn in the first quarter of this year, compared with the same period in 2013. Revenues jumped 66pc to $3.1bn.

“That is stunning growth considering its size,” said Sam Hamadeh, founder of PrivCo, a New York-based analysis firm.

The filings also revealed that it is sat on $7.9bn of cash, cash-equivalents and short-term investments – a major war chest which will help to fuel its expansion by buying up smaller players.

Alibaba did not disclose whether it will list on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq, but it is understood to be leaning towards the former of the two trading platforms. At one point it was considering listing in Hong Kong, but it opted for the US because it its rules enable Alibaba' to retain tighter control of the company.

It is a considerable coup for New York. The listing is expected to bring in around $1.1bn in underwriting, legal and trading fees, at the same time as cementing America’s status as the most importance finance centre in the world.

Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup will all share in the bonanza, as lead under-writers for the deal.